The river imp and the stinky jewel and other tales : monster comics from Edo Japan

Summary: "The River Imp and the Stinky Jewel and Other Tales is an annotated translation of five monster-themed kusazōshi from the late Edo period (1603-1867). Kusazōshi is a genre of popular fiction that combines text and illustration on each page, much like present-day manga; the books were published in the city of Edo beginning in the eighteenth century and continuing into the late nineteenth. While kusazōshi went through radical changes in form and content over the years, stories centering on monsters (yōkai or bakemono) were perennial favorites. The stories for translation have been chosen with an English-reading audience in mind. The humor in which role-reversing monsters act like humans even as they maintain their love of the grotesque is universally recognizable; the comic-book illustrations are fun and provide easy access to the written text"--